Destiny
by Jed Rhodes
Summary: Anakin Skywalker made the right choice - he followed his destiny, and destroyed the Sith. But what was Anakin's destiny, truly?
1. 1

_'You're fulfilling your destiny, Anakin.'_

**Chancellor Palpatine's office.**

The office, red decorated and grand, was horrid to behold.

Three Jedi corpses lay on the floor, deactivated sabre's around them. Agen Kolar, Saesee Tiin, Kit Fisto. All dead, cruel stabs and cuts the only marks on them. One Jedi Master stood alone, violet fire in his hands, blocking lightening flying from a shadow that lay, snarling in the corner of the room, right next to a gaping hole where once there was a window. The marks of the duel the Jedi Master and the shadow had fought marked the room, which was covered in cuts and slashes.

And one young man, a soldier who had grown old before his time, his heart split by fear and sorrow, his mind dulled by torn loyalties, was watching, torn between the two, unable to think, unable to decide which to help and which to destroy.

"Anakin, _help_ me!" called the shadow, the old man: Palpatine who he thought he had known. Palpatine who was a Sith Lord.

"He's a Sith Lord!" called out Mace Windu in reply; angry Mace, disapproving Mace, Mace who was always down on him, never trusted him, never anything but mistrusting, suspicious.

"He's a _traitor_!" screeched Palpatine; traitor to the Republic, the great body Anakin and his friends and colleagues and men and Padawan and all the galaxy had bled to defend, ruled in secret by their worst enemy; had Palpatine asked Dooku to maim him? To threaten Padme?

"This is your _destiny_!" yelled Mace. Destiny. Since he was nine, they had talked of destiny. His _destiny to destroy the Sith._ His _destiny_ was all they cared about. That he feared for Obi Wan? Not at all. That he was terrified of losing Padme? They'd persecute him, take his lightsabre from him if they ever found out about her. He would lose everything. His destiny to destroy the Sith? Even if the Sith was the one man who had always helped him…?

Anakin Skywalker didn't, no, couldn't, hear the battle. All he could hear was his own heartbeat; ba bom, ba bom. He focused in on it. Ba bom, ba bom. Time slowed down as he kept his focus inward. Ba bom, ba bom.

_'Anakin.'_

The voice was familiar, and though he knew instantly who it was and that it should not have been he, yet he was not surprised. How could he be surprised? This was the day that the Sith had revealed its face.

But this voice… a voice he had not heard – could not have heard – for thirteen years. It _couldn't_ be... Qui Gon?

_'Anakin. Witness the end.'_

And then images came to him in a flash. A dark figure, armoured, arm severed, standing next to someone who somehow seemed like Palpatine, watching a young man being hit by the same lightening that the Sith was hurling at Mace Windu, except this poor boy had no defence. No lightsabre in hand. The boy tried to halt the barrage, but Anakin knew… his attempt would be futile. The young man... was his son. His child. And the figure in armour was... was... him. He did not know how he knew this, but he knew this. And Palpatine was hurting his son...

_'Witness the beginning of the end...'_

He saw himself, with Padme. Saw himself raising his arm. Saw Padme floating, being choked... choked by _him?_ He couldn't, he would never…

The battle with Obi Wan flashed before his eyes, tore at him, ripped through his mind; every cut, every parry, every slash and riposte and everything… and he knew. He knew.

He would fall.

_'Witness the fall.'_

Himself, marching through the temple, murdering younglings, Jedi, Cin Drallig, Serra Keto – Ahsoka. All dead at his hands, hood up, so very much like Palpatine, so very… monstrous. He felt ill; his own revulsion startled him.

_'And witness the death.'_

Aayla Secura. Plo Koon. Quinlain Vos. Barriss Offee. Luminara Unduli.

All dead.

All murdered by their troops.

Order 66. _It will be done my lord._ Butchery. Treachery.

_'Witness the cause.'_

Palpatine. A strong image of Palpatine. Not the pitiful figure on the floor, but an image of a twisted, deformed, corrupt _maniac..._

_Murderer_.

He would have Anakin murder younglings, murder Padme... and he was shouting for help?

_'You know what you have to do.'_

"Anakin!" Palpatine yelled, finally dropping his arms, in defeat, his voice snapping the Jedi back into reality. "Please. Help me. I can't hold on any longer. I'm too weak. Please, Master Jedi… don't kill me…"

Anakin did nothing. Said nothing. Mace Windu took the silence as an invitation to finish it himself, and raised his sabre, thunder on his face.

"I will end this once and for all," he said triumphantly.

"No," Anakin said suddenly. He looked Mace dead in the eye as the older man looked at him, incredulous at the interruption, but more so at the words.

"What did you say, Skywalker?" Mace asked, tilting his blade back to guard. Palpatine looked up at Anakin hopefully.

"I am the Chosen One," Anakin said slowly. "It is my task to destroy the Sith, and mine alone."

Mace nodded, comprehending, and Palpatine looked up at him in horror, and then Anakin unclipped his Lightsabre. He walked straight up to the prone figure, and before Palpatine could do anything, he stabbed straight downwards with his Sabre. The old man could not dodge, and it burned straight through his black heart…

The old man gave a final whittled gasp... and died. Mace nodded in respect to Anakin, who smiled, tiredly...

Then he felt an enormous push... Force energy was lancing across the room, black lightening - and he saw Mace nearly fall out the window, nearly blown to his doom; he caught the Korun Master with the Force, and tried to brace himself at the same time, but he couldn't – and he fell out of the window, while Mace was merely blown into the wall.

A long time he fell, watching the traffic streak by, so fast, yet none faster than his descent… he gritted his teeth – he would not die like this. No he would not. He _pushed_ against the oncoming ground_…_

A thud, wet, a crack, hard.

And then silence.


	2. 2

Obi Wan smiled as the ship arrived at Coruscant, Cody and his troopers standing to neat attention behind him.

Grievous had died, Utapau had been freed and the Republic was victorious once again. The Jedi Master had no reason to be upset.

And yet behind his smile, there was worry.

For he had heard what had happened. The death of Palpatine, the _Sith Lord_, had come as a shock to everyone. The news had ended the Clone Wars quickly - the entire Seperatist army had surrendered unconditionally, and the Jedi and Clones were returning home.

But Mace Windu had contacted him, alive, but weary.

Anakin was in a coma.

--

Ahsoka Tano had been injured for some time. She was only just up on her feet, to find that Anakin was already on missions without her. she knew that he must've been upset, but... he hadn't come to see her.

Did she mean that little?

No.

He had fought a Sith, she had heard. He was injured. If anythinig, he needed her more.

She swore to be there.

--

In his dreams, Anakin saw what might have been, the life he would have lived.

He saw Obi Wan killed, old and tired. Galen Marek. Every single Jedi Knight and officer and everything that might have been dead at his hands, laying before him.

And he knew they would never come to pass. But still – something… something was wrong.

This wasn't over yet.

_'You are the Chosen One,'_ Qui Gon said in his dreams. '_Your part is not finished yet.'_

--

Obi Wan sighed and smiled at Mace, who returned the smile, his arm bound and his head bandaged.

He had been saved by Anakin, who now lay on the bed in the Jedi medical centre, spine shattered. He was healing, but it was slow and laborious. The Healers estimated that soon he would recover to full strength - but _how_ soon was the question.

The Senate was being controlled, the trustworthy ones being placed in strategic places of command. Bail Organa had become the new Chancellor, and had quickly announced the repeal of every single security measure that Palpatine had enforced.

The Clones were still the Grand Army of the Republic. No one could think of what else to do with them. The Ten Million that Palpatine had secretly cloned were being put to reconstruction duties with the rest. All the Clones were secretly glad of the end of the war. And the best news of all was that Yoda was coming home as well. And Aayla Secura. And everyone else.

Everywhere, finally, the Jedi were returning home.

It was, Obi Wan reflected, the perfect ending to the story, the villain slain, the heroes victorious.

And yet still Anakin was in that blasted Coma.

Obi Wan sighed, and wished his friend well.

--

_Some time later._

When he awoke, it was to silence, and emptiness. The Medical room was empty of any and all people.

He sat up, tested himself.

His back ached a little, but he could move.

His arm ached a little, but it obeyed him.

He swung his legs out, and stood. He was a little shaky, but he could still walk.

There was no one there.

He reached out with the Force – there were Jedi in the Temple, more Jedi, in fact, than had been there for some time. But why was no one…?

"Ahem."

He looked around, and saw Yoda, standing perfectly still, watching him with those Owl eyes of his.

"Master Yoda," he greeted the Grand Master.

"Anakin," the diminutive Jedi replied. "Much to speak of have we."

"Such as…?" Anakin asked, knowing full well what this was about.

"Padme, given birth has she," Yoda said. "To twins."

Anakin struggled to keep the joy off of his face, but instead remained calm and collected.

"And…?" he asked.

"Pointless, your lie is," Yoda said. "Fully aware, we are. Jedi Knight, you remain."

Anakin raised his eyebrows.

"You know…?!" he said, but Yoda held up a hand.

"Told Kenobi she did. Suspected he already did, but confirmed it she did, and gave birth shortly after."

Anakin said nothing, for a long, long, long moment. Then, finally, when the thought came to him…

"You aren't kicking me out of the Order," he stated, rather than asked.

"Revised our policy, we have," Yoda replied. "Much service have you done for the Jedi Order."

"Yeah," Anakin replied. "Much service."

"Destroyed the Sith Lord and saved Master Windu," Yoda continued. "That, much service I would call. Earned your place on the Council, you have."

"As if I didn't before," Anakin muttered.

"And," Yoda continued, "the position of Master."

Anakin started.

"A Master?" he asked. "Me?"

"Deserve it you do," the wizened Jedi smiled. "Much service you will still do."

Anakin sat back, and smiled.

"What did Padme name the twins?" he asked, as if in afterthought.

"Luke," Yoda replied. "And Leia."

--

_Time passes._

_Time must pass, in order for things to happen, for things to be achieved. Time must pass, for all wounds to be healed, and all heels to be wounded. The path travelled, the path _not_ travelled._

_After Nine Years..._

_--_

**It is a time of peace. Anakin Skywalkers children are**

**among the next generation of Jedi Padawans, **

**and are awaiting the assignment of Masters. **

**Meanwhile, a rogue Bounty Hunter, Boba Fett, has**

**kidnapped Padme Amidala, and taken her to**

**a hidden base of operations.**

**Now, Anakin and his loyal Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, seek**

**to find and rescue the Senator, before Fett can reveal his master**

**plan...**

_--_

Ahsoka dodged another blaster bolt, spun her sabre, and grinned.

In a bar was where she was, lightsabre out, back to a wall. Surrounded, as it was, by three bounty hunters, blasters aimed.

_'Where are you, Master?'_ she thought, angry.

_'Look up,'_ came the reply in her head. Her eyes flicked up, and then he struck.

The Hero With No Fear. The Second Sith Killer. Soldier. Leader. Mentor.

Anakin Skywalker sliced the first bounty hunter down the middle, letting the two halves drop. He spun and cut a second in half at the waist and disarmed - literally, dis_armed -_ the third.

He held his sabre to the bounty hunters' neck.

"Alright, scum," he said. "You know why we're here."

"I don't know anything about the Senator!" the terrified bounty hunter screamed. He was thirty-ish, human, and a suspiscious puddle was forming underneath him.

"You do know something," Anakin said, dangerously calm. "And you will tell me the location of the mother of my children, or I will see to it that you never _have_ children."

He let the lightsabre drop, and the bounty hunter screamed.

"Alright, alright!" he screeched. "She's on Rhen Var! She's on Rhen Var!!"

Anakin switched off his sabre, and smiled.

"Thank you," he said.

He turned and walked off, Ahsoka right behind him.

--

"What was all that about?" Ahsoka asked him.

"I wanted answers," Anakin said. "Simply put."

"Master Luminara Unduli said, 'terror is njot the weapon of a Jedi,'" Ahsoka pointed out.

"I'm not Luminara Unduli," Anakin smiled tightly. "I'm Anakin Skywalker. My wife is in danger. I'm not letting anyone hurt her, Ahsoka."

Ahsoka sighed, and smiled. Anakin was far too attached to Padme Amidala, even if they were married. The Order had relaxed its rules on attachment, but it was still... _frowned upon,_ was the best way of putting it.

"So," she said, changing the subject. "Have you given any thought to what I said?"

Anakin pretended he hadn't heard her.

"Master..." she verbally prodded.

"You're ready for the trials," Anakin said. "I'll submit a recommendation to the council."

"And the other thing...?" Ahsoka continued.

Anakin sighed.

"I'll see if the Council would be willing to assign one of the kids to you," he smiled. "I think Luke would be a good choice."

"I think so too," Ahsoka smiled. "I like Luke, he's always so friendly..."

"You should see him in a fight," Anakin sighed, happily. "Takes after his parents."

"What, tall, angry and annoying?" Ahsoka teased. Anakin gave her a dirty look.

"Watch it snips," he said. "Or I'll reccomend something different..."

Ahsoka held up her hands in defeat as they reached their ship - a battered YT-2000 called the _Padme _be Anakin, mainly becasue he was the sentimental sort.

The ship took off, and headed for Rhen Var...


	3. 3

Boba Fett smirked as he saw the YT-2000 land. He had known that the Hero With No Fear would come for his wife. No doubt that annoying little Togruta would be with him.

"You'll regret this," Amidala snarled from behind him for the twenty fifth time that day.

"I doubt that," Fett said. In the intervening thirteen years between the death of his Father and right here, right now, he had made it his business to know how to kill a Jedi. And now he was going to prove it by killing two Jedi, two very famous Jedi.

In the nine years since the Clone Wars ended, the term 'Kenobi and Skywalker' had eventually become replaced by the term 'Skywalker and Tano' - the former, young, headstrong, but also tempered by experience and fatherhood, still 'the Hero With No Fear'. The latter, younger, brave but sometimes naive, sometimes too trusting, but still a Force to be reckoned with. Known throughout the worlds as 'The Moral Compass', for her sterling negotiation skills (something everyone said she had gotten from The Negotiator himself), and her calming influence on the Hero himself.

And now, he, Boba Fett, Jedi Killer, was going to take their heads. This was his one and only personal kill. Striking back at the Jedi for murdering his Father.

He had already killed the one that had done the deed itself. Amidala had choked in horror at the severed head and lightsabre hung up in Slave I...

--

Anakin landed the ship with pristine precision, like he always did. Ahsoka still marvelled at his skill, which she had now witnessed so many times.

"Right," he said. "C'mon, snips."

"Don't you think I'm a little old for that, now?" Ahsoka asked as they descended.

"You still call me Skyguy," Anakin said.

"I haven't called you that in months!" Ahsoka protested. "I'm an adult now."

"You're twenty four," Anakin said. "Obi Wan was still a Padawan."

"I'm not Obi Wan," Ahsoka pointed out.

"No, he's less irritating," Anakin said. "'Sides, old habits die hard."

"Yeah, I guess so," Ahsoka conceded, then added slyly, "Skyguy."

He gave her a dirty look as they entered the citadel of Rhen Var, and then he raised his sabre, sensing the Force shift - just as the hail of blaster bolts came down, and he blocked them all successfully, spinning his blue blade left and right. Then he raised his sabre to guard and noted with satisfaction as Ahsoka did the same.

Then, a lightly armoured figure – Mandalorian armour, Ahsoka noted – landed in front of them.

"Prepare," he said, his voice identical to that of the Clone Troopers, "to die, scum."

He took out – and here Anakin's anger upped a notch – Mace Windu's lightsabre, and flicked it on. The purple blade gleamed brilliantly. Anakin smiled though – this idiot thought he was going to beat the Chosen One and the Moral Compass in battle? Please.

Then Boba Fett charged. He swung his pilfered sabre left and right, forcing Anakin on the defensive.

"This blade took my Fathers head," he snarled as he swung. "And now, it takes yours!"

Anakin calmly blocked every stroke, as Boba hit out at a dodging Ahsoka – but then he kicked out at Anakin and concentrated on Ahsoka, hitting out at her repeatedly with the pilfered blade until finally...

One misstep...

Her hand, and the sabre it held, fell away from her wrist. She screamed and fell to the floor. Boba nodded, and turned to face Anakin...

Who swung his sabre and took off his head.

Once more, a Fett head in Mandalore armour lay decapitated in a desolate place.

Anakin ran to Ahsoka,, and quickly ascertained the extent of the damage.

"Ok, ok," he said, "it's fine, it's fine..."

He sighed as she went into a healing trance.

Then he went over to Padme.

"You're lucky you're dead," he said to Fetts' head as he walked. "If you weren't, I'd kill you for kidnapping Padme..."

--

Obi Wan sighed as he sat back. Anakin had just contacted the council, and informed them of Senator Amidala's rescue – as well as Ahsoka's injury.

"Another successful mission," he spoke aloud. _One I missed, sat in a chair all day as I am..._

"And discovered, they have, the fate of Mace Windu," Yoda added, ears drooped in sorrow. Mace had gone missing some time ago, and they had searched - now it seemed, that search was over. "One with the Force, he has become."

"It's not how he would have chosen to go," Kenobi pondered.

"However he went, fighting did he go," Yoda replied, sagely. "Of more concern is Padawan Tano's injury."

"A trial of the flesh as horrible as any," Obi Wan mused.

"True this is," Yoda said. "Once recovered she is, ready for the trials she will be."

They sat in silence for some time.

"Master," Kenobi said after a while, "it concerns me that the Darkness that we felt at the time of the war has not abated."

"Hm," Yoda pondered. "Perhaps right, Dooku was," he said after a moment. "The darkness, once started, cannot be abated."

"But it has no avatar," Kenobi replied. "Palpatine was the avatar before, and we both know that he intended to make Anakin his apprentice. But with his death..."

"Already down the dark path, Skywalker was," Yoda said. "Dominate his destiny, it still does."

"Anakin would never turn," Kenobi replied, a touch defensively. "He may have his... moments, but he's a loyal ally and staunch Jedi."

"Perhaps," Yoda said. "But a darkness there is within him."

"Even if there is," Obi Wan said, relaxing a little, "he has a family - and then of course there's Ahsoka. They all keep him grounded."

"True," Yoda said. "But if lose one he does, not long it may be before he loses the other. Witnessed this we have, with his determination to find his wife."

"Do you blame him?" Kenobi asked.

"No," Yoda replied, a sad smile on his face. "But come to regret it, we all may..."


	4. 4

Ahsoka flexed her new hand, and looked at it in distaste.

"You'll get used to it," her mentor told her. "It's better quality than my first one."

It was almost the exact shade of red Ahsoka's skin was, a simple robotic skeleton covered by the new synth-flesh. Strong and durable enough to be used the same way her old hand was, without being too different.

"I _still_ don't like it," she said. She was sat on a bed in the Infirmary, with her Master and Master Kenobi nearby, on chairs.

"Well, Padawan," Obi Wan said, smiling, "it could have been worse. Considering the state Fett was in, it is lucky that he took your hand not you head."

"That's _not_ something I want her to be thinking about," Anakin reproached his Master, slightly.

"Well, there is a more – _upside_-y, upside," Obi Wan smiled. "Ahsoka is ready for the trials."

Ahsoka looked up, a light in her eyes.

"The Council decided this?" she asked.

"Myself and Yoda _decided_," Obi Wan said, still smiling. "The rest of the Council merely _agreed_."

Ahsoka suddenly didn't care about her hand. She was happier than she had ever been.

--

He was not amused.

All the effort he had put in, subtly manipulating things for so very, very long, all the ways he had maneuvered Fett Junior into his position. The way he had taken revenge – for both of them – on Mace Windu.

Then Skywalker, _blasted_ Skywalker, had come in, ruined everything. Typical.

Darth Sidious, no longer Palpatine, sat back in his chair in his facility. Long ago he had returned, had cursed Skywalker and had waited for the single moment when he might have his total vengeance against him and that accursed Yoda, against Kenobi, and that blasted child, Tano. He silently thanked the Force for his Clones, that no one else had ever discovered.

"Dammit," he muttered. "Stupid Fett…"

Boba Fett had been searching for a way to revenge himself upon the Jedi, and Sidious had promised him it – had delivered Windu into the twenty two year olds hands. Windu's death had felt, in the Force, like a powerful aphrodisiac almost, powerful and seductive and wonderful. Palpatine's death at Windu's hands – no, Skywalkers hands, but Windu had caused it – was reason enough to want the Jedi dead, and his tortured death had been sweeter than nectar.

Sighing, Sidious prepared to begin his new plan.

--

Yoda and Obi Wan looked through the list of Trials that a Jedi could go through.

"The trial of flesh she has faced and overcome," Kenobi said.

"And the war, enough of a test of spirit it was," Yoda added.

"And she fought Grievous and survived," Obi Wan continued. "Some fully qualified Jedi never succeeded in that."

Yoda nodded, and considered the final test.

"The trial of spirit," he murmured. "Dangerous this is."

"I never did it," Kenobi said, truthfully. "But Qui Gon never spoke of it."

"He would not have," Yoda said. "Difficult it is, and worse to speak of. A trial of the very soul it is, a test of a Jedi's fortitude, a test of their knowledge, a test of their..."

"What?" Kenobi asked.

"Everything," Yoda said.

--

Ahsoka walked into the training room where she had been summoned, and looked around at the empty space.

"Masters?" she called. There didn't seem to be anyone present. Was she early, or late? She hoped not.

"There's _no one_ here for you now," a darkly sadistic-toned voice spoke, cruelty edged in every syllable. Ahsokas' blood froze. She turned to face her opponent, lightsabre already active.

"Hello," the image spoke again. It was impossible for it to even be there. It was, to be blunt, Ahsoka. Except that Ahsoka didn't wear black. And her lightsabre wasn't red. And her face wasn't twisted into a sadistic, cruel smile. And her eyes weren't blazing golden fire. Except for all those, the image was, basically, Ahsoka.

"What are you?" Ahsoka asked the image, holding her saber to guard.

"What you should have been," the apparition snarled. "Stronger, harder, faster, everything you aren't."

Ahsoka felt a sudden rage starting within her. It seemed like this…thing, was a vision of what she could be. Well, she'd defeat it.

She lunged, but somehow, it blocked her. Then she launched into a series of strong strikes, and each time the creature blocked them. The Dark Ahsoka laughed.

"You're no match for my power," she snarled. Ahsoka kept hitting out, but nothing worked.

Then, unbidden, words flowed into her mind, in a voice she had never heard, but one that seemed familiar.

_'Anger, violence, combat… war itself is a weapon of the darkness. Only love can defeat evil.'_

_'Only love...'_

Ahsoka understood. She stopped attacking, and then, to her own surprise, she smiled. She flicked her saber up to a salute, the way she had seen Dooku do it, and switched it off.

The apparition snarled, and struck out, but Ahsoka didn't flinch, and then the thing… vanished.

And then, Yoda, Anakin and Master Kenobi appeared before her.

"Well done," Kenobi smiled. "Jedi Knight."

Ahsoka kneeled before the Masters, and Yoda came up to her.

"Hereby do we dub you, Jedi Knight of the Republic," he said, tone serious and gravelly.

Anakin only smiled.

"Knew you could do it, snips," he said.

Ahsoka smiled, and stood. It was, you might say, the happiest moment of her entire life.

So it was typical of everything that happened that something just had to go wrong.

--

Order 66 he had considered, but, to his considerable chagrin, the order had been erased and expunged. Which annoyed Sidious no end.

So his second plan was far more obvious.

He had spent the last nine years building a private army of Clones in the spaarti cylinders, and had used these clones to create what he termed the 'Antitroopers'. These Antitroopers were equipped with black versions of the standard Clone Trooper armour, and they were as deadly as their light side equivalent. Now, he would unleash them.

Ten thousand troopers, armed to the teeth, unleashed upon the Jedi Temple.

_'Let's see them survive_ that,' Sidious thought, smugly._ 'They'll never feel secure again.'_

--


	5. 5

Ahsoka blocked another hail of laser bolts from the black-armoured soldiers. They fell as she spun the sabre, and she allowed herself a grim smile. Then she considered the problem before her.

This was impossible, wasn't it? A hostile force had somehow infiltrated Coruscant and bypassed the entire defence grid Chancellor Organa had spent nine years setting up, and now, somehow, the Jedi were under attack.

"I've sent a call for Clone assistance," Obi Wan said to the surrounding Jedi Knights, Ahsoka included. "But it'll take time for them to arrive. I need you all to coordinate the evacuation of the younglings."

"Yes Master Kenobi," the assembled team replied obediently. Only Ahsoka remained in place.

"You'll need me," she told Kenobi.

"The younglings need you," Obi Wan replied. "More than anything, we must defend the children."

Ahsoka nodded, and ran off. And then, the rest of the Jedi dispersed, to do their thing.

--

This is Obi Wan Kenobi.

This is his element.

Defending those he cares for.

He dislikes combat. He has nothing but disdain for Jedi who spend every living second practicing how to kill better. He believes in peace.

But he loves his friends, and the Jedi – his family. He loves them unconditionally. And that is why he will die to defend them.

Always.

--

They call him the Hero With No Fear, and as Anakin fights these Antitroopers, he recognises the lie. He is afraid. No, more than that – terrified. Everything he loves is here. His children are here. Ahsoka is here. Obi Wan is here.

Everything he loves is here.

So he fights all the harder for them, and hopes it is enough to win, this time.

Though in his heart, he knows it won't be.

--

This is Yoda.

He is the avatar of light.

Jedi Master.

The Jedi Master. A person says Jedi, and cannot help but think of Yoda.

But he knows his time is soon.

He has lived so long, seen others fall around him. This battle may be the last one he ever fights, the last evil he ever vanquishes. But for them, his children, his family, he is always and ever prepared to give anything and everything.

Including his life.

--

Jocasta Nu blocks the assault bolts with a grim smile.

"No one," she calls out, "invades my library!"

She cuts down another Antitrooper and spins into defensive posture, moving like someone half her age. No one invades my library, she thinks again. No one dares. Not even Yoda would risk it.

The Antitroopers seem reluctant to even go near her, and she knows why. She is transformed here from old woman to warrior, from weakling to guardian of knowledge.

But of course, she has always been this.

--

Ahsoka Tano ushered the younglings into the escape route. Luke Skywalker, Anakin's son, raised his green sabre and blocked bolts as they flew towards them.

"Someone has to hold them off," Luke said. "I'll…"

"No," Ahsoka held him back from his suicidal plan. "No, your father wouldn't allow it."

"He isn't here," Luke protested.

"And I am," Ahsoka said. Then, to her own surprise, she made a decision. "Go."

Luke seemed to know instinctively what she meant.

"No," he said, shaking his head. "I won't allow you to do this."

He blocked another blaster bolt.

"Look, Luke," Ahsoka said, "this is not the time to argue!"

Luke said nothing, but didn't move a muscle. Ahsoka sighed, and hit him in the head, where he dropped like a stone. She checked he was still alive, and then got him into the exit.

Then she turned to face the Antitroopers.

This is Ahsoka Tano.

Her Master was the Chosen One.

His Master is the Negotiator.

She is the Moral Compass.

Together, they are a team. And she always knew, somehow, that when she died, it would be without them, because it is only when the team is separated that bad things happen.

--

This is how the Jedi defend themselves.

An entire order, in total more than five hundred Knights, Masters, Padawans and Younglings, come together to repel a hostile force.

Many do not survive, but this is a price they pay gladly.

The battle is brutal, and cruel. There are so many acts that are worthy of remembrance. But it is the end that matters. And the end is simple.

Of five hundred Jedi, less than two hundred live.

Cin Drallig, Serra Keto, Ki-Adi Mundi, Shaak Ti, Whie Malreaux… these and more are the names of those who died. Along with…

--

Anakin ran along the corridor, feeling his loved one slip away.

Always, someone dies. Always, he fails, just a little.

"Ahsoka!" he called out, running towards her. Piles of dead Antitroopers lay there, hacked apart, and killed by deflected blaster bolts. And Ahsoka had so many blaster wounds it was a wonder she was still alive, even now.

"Mas… ter…" she tried to say. "I… saved… younglings… got them… out…"

She smiled, and Anakin smiled too.

"Hang on, snips," he said. "Hang on."

But the light left her eyes. Anakin watched the body slump as life left it.

Too late.

Always too late.

As Obi Wan and Yoda came up to him, battle-stained and bloody, he had but one thing to say.

"Who did this?"


	6. 6

The Jedi Council Chamber was notably emptier than it had been. With the death of Ki Adi Mundi, Mace Windu and Zachary Rachan (a Jedi appointed six months ago, and an excellent fighter) in the attack, there was a sense that there was something lacking. But as the surviving on site council members gathered, there was also resolution for action.

"Intelligence reports indicate that the attack was lead by rogue Clones from the Freedom Movement," Master Aayla Secura said, showing the assembled Jedi – Yoda, Obi Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Shaak Ti – the hologram of Clone Soldiers – retired – marching in protest.

Since the end of the Clone Wars, Clones had been leaving the Army to join an increasing movement led by former Captain Slick – they wanted rights. Chancellor Organa had been working on it, but it took time for them to be accepted, and some radical Clones – Slick amongst them – wanted more.

"I doubt it," Anakin replied, considering the possibility. "Slicks militia stick with Mark I Clone armour, the armour their most recognisable in. These guys wore something like modified Mark II."

"So then," Kenobi said, thoughtfully. "New soldiers?"

"The only possibility it is," Yoda replied, tapping his gimer stick against the floor. "although the source of these Clones, unknown it is."

"We should know," Anakin said, his tone one of a man impatient to right a wrong. "We're Jedi Knights – no, scratch that, we're _Masters_. We should know everything."

"Impossible," Shaak Ti said, trying to exert a calming field over the young Jedi. "Knowing everything is beyond any Jedi."

"Not us," Anakin snapped. "The shroud of the Dark Side is gone..."

"Diminished, it has," Yoda replied, snapping as well. "Not vanished."

"But it was created by Sidious," Obi Wan pointed out.

"No," Yoda said. "Merely strengthened. But correct you are in the assumption that Sidious, the instigator of our prior blindness was."

"Then I know what to do..." Anakin said, deciding his plan, closing his eyes, concentrating, looking for a familiar feeling in the Force.

"You can't be thinking its Sidious still," Obi Wan said. "He's been dead almost a decade!"

"Impossible it is to return from death," Yoda added.

"No," Anakin said. He opened his eyes, and to the shock of everyone, they were iris-less, pupil-less. "Not impossible."

His voice had taken on a strange quality, an accent, a mode of speaking, that hadn't been there before. Obi Wan almost recognised it.

"We should have seen his presence long before," Anakin added in the same voice. "Long ago, when we first found Anakin, when I brought him here..."

"Qui Gon," Yoda breathed.

"Qui Gon?" Obi Wan said, confused. "But..."

"Yes, my old apprentice, it is I," Anakin said. "Anakin seeks something in the Force, and in his absence, I have come here."

"Why have you not appeared, as previously you have?" Yoda asked.

"He's done this before?!" Obi Wan whispered.

"Once," Yoda replied, "before the mission to Vjun, did he appear before me. Without physical being he was, but luminous."

"Now, I come on a darker errand," Anakin/Qui Gon said. "Your enemy is indeed Sidious. Once before I have risked much to counter his plan, interfered where I ought not to have interfered. Now, I do so again."

"Interfered _how_?" Obi Wan asked.

"I influenced Anakin's choice," Qui Gon said simply. "He _could_ have turned to evil, or stayed as he was."

"This choice, he would have made differently?" Yoda asked.

"Yes," Qui Gon said sadly. "You would have all died in the storm in his wake, the Chosen one fallen. A true terror would have descended."

"But you saved us," Obi Wan said, suddenly grateful for his Master.

"Yes," Qui Gon said, Anakins mouth smiling. "But at cost. Sidious lives. He transferred his Force Energy and mind to a Clone of Palpatine, and now, he plans to destroy the Jedi once more."

"You know this?" Yoda asked. "How?"

"I'm dead," Qui Gon said simply. "The Force is one with all – I need merely avoid being detected and I can witness all he does."

"He's already failed," Aayla Secura said. "We held."

"That was a test," Qui Gon said. "He tested our resolve and weakened our numbers. It was... nothing more than that, but perhaps less bad than it could have been."

"Those Clones were pawns," Obi Wan said sadly. "Bred to die in hopeless battle."

"And yours were not?" Qui Gon asked. None of the Jedi answered him. "I'm not here to judge, merely to comment."

"So what _is_ his plan?" Shaak Ti asked.

"Our deaths," Kenobi guessed. "Any way possible."

"You would be correct, my old friend," Qui Gon smiled – slightly disturbing on Anakin's face, given his eyes. "He plans to annihilate the Jedi, by first demoralizing us…"

"The attack," Secura muttered.

"…then, finally, killing our finest Jedi," Qui Gon finished.

"Yoda?" Aayla Secura said, turning to look at the small Jedi Master, who only shook his head. Then it was suddenly clear who the late Jedi meant.

"Anakin?" Obi Wan asked. "But…"

"He is the most compassionate, the most moral, and the most powerful Jedi," Qui Gon said. "Sidious plans to draw him in, then murder him."

"No," Obi Wan said. "No, that cannot happen."

"Then what suggest you, Obi Wan?" Yoda asked. But Qui Gon already knew.

"You cannot defeat him," he said. "You are skilled, but he is a power in itself, an avatar of darkness."

"But he threatens everyone I hold dear," Obi Wan replied. "I _will_ defeat him, I promise you."

Qui Gon said nothing. Then, he closed Anakins eyes, and suddenly the younger man pitched forward.

"Uh…" he murmured. "I… found… Sidious," he finished. "On… Vjun…"

Yoda nodded grimly. Somehow, he had expected that place to be the home of the Dark Lord of the Sith.

"Thank you, Anakin," Obi Wan said, before passing his hand over the young mans eyes. Anakin quickly fell asleep.

"Thank you for this, he will not," Yoda said.

"I won't be here to thank," Obi Wan replied quietly. "Master."

He bowed, and walked out. Shaak Ti and Aayla looked to Yoda.

"Stop him we cannot," the ancient Master replied to the unspoken question. "His own destiny, he has decided."

--


	7. 7

Sidious watched the Jedi fighter land. Though the pilot masked his Force-signature well, it could only be Skywalker. Sidious smiled and sat back in his chair, awaiting the Golden Boys arrival.

So imagine his surprise when, instead of Skywalker, Obi Wan Kenobi entered his control room.

"Hello," the Jedi Master smiled. "I was hoping I'd find you here."

Sidious stood, and drew his lightsabre.

"What are you doing here?!" he snarled.

"Well, I was going to discuss the décor with you, but you're not seeming very talkative. Perhaps I'll come back later…" Obi Wan bowed, then took his own sabre out. "Although it has been a while since I fought a Sith and won."

"That was Maul," Sidious said, walking carefully around his foe. "A tool. Nothing more than a killing device. And he was nothing compared to me, a weak-minded fool."

"Still, you fight one Sith, you fight them all," Kenobi replied, mockingly. "You're all so unoriginal."

"My power has grown since my resurrection," Sidious snarled. "You cannot hope to defeat me."

"I've grown in power as well," Kenobi said, slowly circling with Sidious, watching his every move. "You will find me a challenge."

"I doubt it," Sidious snarled. "I defeated four of the best warriors your order ever came out with."

"No," Kenobi countered, "you defeated three. Mace beat you, then Anakin killed you. I would have thought you'd have learned your lesson after that, but I must admire your tenacity…"

"You won't be alive to admire anything, Jedi!" Sidious snarled, before unleashing Force lightening upon Kenobi. The Jedi had his sabre ignited and blocking it in a heartbeat. The lightening was far more powerful than Dooku's, but still manageable. Sidious stopped a moment later.

"You have skill, Kenobi," he admitted. "Much skill."

"My Master's fault," Obi Wan replied, smiling. "And now, Lord Sidious…" he flourished his blade, and smiled. "Shall we dance?"

Sidious smiled, a truly evil image, then ignited his own blade and ran at Kenobi. Obi Wan raised his sabre and blocked the first strike, before slicing down to send his opponents blade towards the floor. Sidious recovered immediately, and swung his sabre in an arc designed to remove Obi Wan's head, but he had already ducked, and barrelled into the Sith's chest, pushing him to the floor and rolling over him. Obi Wan spun his blade, but Sidious stabbed upwards, forcing him on the defensive. Sidious was on his feet in no time, with a series of strikes that Obi Wan, Master of Soresu, could barely block. Finally, he was forced to his knees.

"Fool!" Sidious screamed, pointing his sabre at Obi Wan's throat. "Now, you die!"

Obi Wan smiled and used the Force, not to push Sidious, but himself. He pushed backwards and rammed himself into a wall, but quickly stood up. Sidious raised a hand and unleashed more Force lightening, but this time he aimed at the metal wall Kenobi had his back to, and the resultant force semi electrocuted him. He cut off the lightening before Kenobi could die or pass out.

"Fool," he repeated, softer this time. "You can't hope to win this battle."

Kenobi smiled, though his face was now burnt.

"Not my plan…" he said, softly as well. "I only wanted to… save… Anakin…"

Sidious lifted him up using the Force.

"Skywalker will die at my hand," Sidious said. "And his son will serve me, and his daughter, and their children…"

"No," Kenobi said, a little anger building in his tone. "No, that won't happen…"

"Such a pity the Togruta girl died," Sidious continued. "I would have had her as an Assasin, and then discarded her… and she had such potential…"

"You… aren't…" Kenobi tried to struggle against the iron Force grip. "You… cannot…"

"Are you getting angry, Kenobi?" Sidious asked. "Angry at me?"

Kenobi narrowed his eyes, and spat in Sidious' face.

Thirteen seconds later, he was unconscious and smoking on the floor.

--

Anakin awoke to find Padme over him, worried looking.

"Anakin!" she said, hands over mouth. "Oh thank the Force, I thought you were…"

"Where's Obi Wan?" he asked, sitting bolt upright. "Where…?"

"Gone to face Sidious, he has," Yoda said grimly, sitting on the end of Anakins' bed. "Decided for the best it was, he did."

Anakin gave Yoda a filthy look.

"You let him go," he said eventually.

"Decided for himself he did," Yoda replied. "Stop him, we could not."

"Did you try?" Anakin asked. Yoda's ears drooped, and he said nothing.

"I have to go save him," Anakin said.

"_No_," Yoda said. "Do that, and destroy you will, that for which he has fought and suffered."

"What was that?" Anakin asked.

"You," Yoda replied.

"Anakin, don't leave," Padme added. "Obi Wan made me promise not to let you."

"And let him die?" Anakin snapped.

"He left to stop you from dying," Yoda added. "Not so allow yourself to die you would."

Anakin looked between them, and sighed.

Then he bolted down the corridor before either of them could act.

--

'_Don't,'_ he heard, as he prepared a fighter. He ignored it, voices in his head trying to stop him from doing the right thing.

'_Master, don't,_' he heard, and he spun to see Ahsoka facing him, blue and ghostly. He marvelled at her, and she smiled, and answered his unspoken question.

'Qui Gon Jinn taught me how to do this,' she smiled, then it faded, and her tone turned serious. 'Master, don't throw your life away.'

Anakin blanched - yet another person who just _didn't understand_ why he had to save Obi Wan. "He's as close to a father as I ever had," he replied, turning away from the ghost of his former Padawan. "I won't abandon him now, not when he truly needs me."

'Sidious wants you dead,' Ahsoka's ghost cautioned him. 'He'll kill you as soon as he sees you.'

Anakin got into the fighter and smiled at her - the old smile - the Hero With No Fear.

"He will try," he said, and then the fighter shot into the atmosphere, leaving the fading ghost of Ahsoka Tano to ruminate on what might be.


	8. 8

**The Padme.**

Luke Skywalker was no dolt when it came to star ships. He had been flying the Padme for three years now. He knew what to do.

And he knew what his father was doing. He had sensed it. Watched his Dad leave.

So when he got the chance, he headed for the Padme and activated her.

Because Uncle Kenobi and his Father had gone off to fight a Sith, and there was no way Luke was letting them do so wihtout him being there to help them.

"_Luke_," a stern-ish voice, female and young, came from behind him. He spun, and then relaxed.

"Hey, Lee," he said.

Leia was standing at the bottom of the ramp, stern faced and annoyed looking.

"You are _not_ thinking of going to save Dad," she said.

"Gee your telepathy is _really_ bad," Luke smirked. "Guess you need to work on that while I'm gone…"

"You _can't_ just go off in _Padme_," Leia snapped. "Mom'll go spare!"

"I know," Luke replied, deadly serious for a nine year old. "But Dad needs me."

"You _can't_ go," Leia said, folding her arms. Luke decided not to argue, but simply turned and walked up the ramp.

"Ok, _fine_, wait for me!" Leia wailed, running up after him. "If you're saving Dad, you've gotta have someone _sensible_ around…"

Luke smiled.

--

He is Darth Sidious.

He has planned the death of Skywalker for almost a decade.

He had planned the annihilation of the Jedi for three decades.

He is full of plans.

This is his finest.

It depends on Skywalker being Skywalker – headstrong, coming to his friends rescue, not caring about himself. It depends on his anger clouding him to the true power he can tap.

It does not depend on his children at all.

It also does not depend on two dead Jedi.

--

Anakin landed some distance from the fortress where Sidious' presence shone like a beacon, screaming at him. He could also sense Obi Wan – faint, but present.

'_Anakin_,' a voice said, and he turned to face his Masters Master.

"Let me guess, Qui Gon," he said, folding his arms in unconscious imitation of his far-distant daughter. "You want to stop me from saving Obi Wan, 'cos it's playing into the Sith Lords hands."

'_Actually no,_' Qui Gon's Force-ghost smiled, the same smile Qui Gon always had on when Anakin had known him alive, in happier times. '_I understand your feelings. But, unfortunately, your actions do play into the Siths hands.'_

"I don't care," Anakin snarled. "I'll save Master Kenobi, and kill the Sith. You showed me what he was capable of."

'_Are you sure you don't just seek revenge_?' Qui Gon asked. '_You know Ahsoka is in peace with the Force_.'

And sure enough, Ahsoka appeared beside Qui Gon, dressed in robes, smiling beatifically.

"I should have guessed you two were in on this," Anakin grumbled. "So if you don't want to stop me, what's with the lecture?"

'_I want you to be sure of your feelings_,' Qui Gon said. _'Only a Jedi Knight, with the Force as his ally, a Jedi with peace and compassion and honour in his heart, can defeat Sidious._'

"I'm the best Jedi who ever lived," Anakin said, with more than a touch of arrogance.

'_The best fighter, Master_,' Ahsoka countered, '_but you're filled with rage, plain as the nose on your face.'_

_'You_ cannot _fight evil with evils tools,'_ Qui Gon said. '_You must fight, not as_ Anakin_, but as the avatar of light'_

"'Avatar of light'?" Anakin asked, confused.

_'It's what you always were supposed to be_,' Ahsoka told him. '_The whole point of the Chosen One is to be the Avatar of Light and the smite the Avatar of Dark_.'

Anakin nodded, slowly realising the truth of their words. Then he smiled.

"I guess your general knowledge has gone up since you died, snips," he joked.

Qui Gon smiled.

'_You go with the Force on your side,'_ he said. '_And may it be with you, Anakin_.'

He faded. Anakin turned to Ahsoka.

"Couldn't resist one last chat, huh?" he asked.

_'Guess not,'_ she smiled. '_Master… I know you blame yourself, for what happened to me…'_

Anakin said nothing, but bowed his head, too ashamed to speak.

'_Well,_ don't,' Ahsoka continued. _'I made my choice. I died, doing what Jedi always die doing. Fighting the good fight. Don't blame yourself.'_

Anakin smiled at her.

"Take care in the afterlife, snips," he said. Ahsoka winked at him, and vanished.

'_Take care in the life-life, Skyguy,_' her voice, a fading echo, replied. Anakin straightened his shoulders, and ignited his lightsabre.

"Avatar of light," he said, smiling. "'Kay, I can deal with that."

--

Sidious had his lightsabre out, and aimed at the door, when Anakin walked in.

"Chancellor," Anakin mock-bowed. "Or should I say – Darth Sidious?"

"You should say Master," Sidious snarled. "You should have joined me, Anakin. Together, the traitorous Jedi…"

"Shut up, scum," Anakin said, showing a little anger, then visibly calming. "The days when I listened to you are long gone."

"You should have listened to me long ago," Sidious snarled. "Long ago. But instead, you killed me. But, here I am – my first and only lesson, Skywalker," he smiled, cruelly. "No matter what you do, the darkness always returns."

"And the light always beats it," Anakin replied, igniting his sabre and doing what he had seen Obi Wan do a thousand times – relaxing into a Soresu stance. Sidious snarled, and charged.

The two met in combat, a perfect match for each other. Sidious' clone body was as strong as Anakin, and his skill was great, but Anakin had love and wisdom and knowledge on his side - the Avatars of Light and Dark had met in battle, for one time only.

--

Luke and Leia landed the _Padme_ a short distance from the fortress, and they rushed outside.

In one of the windows, they could see blue and red fire lighting up the silhouettes of two men.

"Dad!" Luke whispered. Leia was too busy tilting her head.

"Listen," she said. "Listen to this!"

They both tilted their heads, and then smiled.

"Uncle Obi Wan!" Luke said.

"Lets go rescue him!" Leia said. "Then he can help us save Dad!"

They both grinned, then ran for the fortress.

--

Obi Wan was meditating.

Since his capture, he had been in almost constant contact with Qui Gon, except when he said Anakin was arriving. Even now, Kenobi could sense the beacon of Light that was his former Padawan, and the living shadow of Sidious, and he knew fear. What if the avatar of Light should fall? Obi Wan had always been on Anakin's side when he needed him – but not now.

"Uncle Kenobi," someone whispered. Obi Wan opened his eyes, and looked to see – and here he almost sighed – Luke and Leia staring at him, smiling.

"Hello," he said. "I take it your Father is here," he added, though he already knew that – he wanted to know if Anakin had been stupid enough to drag his children here.

"Yeah," Luke began.

"But _don't_ tell him!" Leia whispered. "He came to rescue you, but he's upstairs fighting the Sith now, so we came here."

Obi Wan nodded, and smiled, before standing up, and stretching his legs, before reassuring the children with his trademark Kenobi smile.

"Well," he said. "I guess _we'd_ best go save _him_."

And as they went, Obi Wan reflected that there was a first time for everything.


	9. 9

Luke and Leia ran along the corridor with all the impatience of children that Obi Wan remembered Anakin having possessed once.

Obi Wan winced. Though the healing meditation had worked wonders, he still felt mildly sore all over. And, of course, the children had neglected to mention lightsbare's, which mildly annoyed Obi Wan – especially since Anakin would no doubt bring him up on it, for a laugh. Obi Wan smiled then.

"Now then children," he said to them, as they rounded a corner, "I want you to go find the Padme and get her started. I'll go help your father."

Luke and Leia both looked as if they were about to protest.

"No, listen," he said, holding up his hand. "I don't want argument, I want you to do what I say. I'll help your father, it's far too dangerous for you."

Luke nodded, but Leia folded her arms.

"You haven't even got a lightsabre, Uncle Obi Wan," she pointed out. Kenobi smiled ruefully, and then, to his surprise, Luke took a sabre out of his robe.

"Here, Uncle," he said, holding it out. Obi Wan smiled, and prepared to politely decline the training sabe – then he realised, it wasn't a training sabre. He took it, and examined the lines, almost identical to his own lightsabre in every respect, save for the type of metal used – a lighter steel than his own. He ignited it, and a bright emerald blade shone to life.

"I built it out of respect," Luke said. "For you and… and Ahsoka."

Obi Wan smiled, feeling almost moved to tears. And it was a good lightsabre.

"Thank you," he said to Luke. "I'm sure Ahsoka would be very proud. I know I am."

He deactivated it, and looked back at the children.

"Now, go quickly!"

They nodded, and ran off, leaving Obi Wan to ruminate on how powerful Anakin's children had become, and how powerful they would be.

--

Luke and Leia ran down the corridor, and turned right, before coming to a T-Junction.

"Why didn't you say we were allowed to build lightsabres?!" Leia said crossly.

"I thought you knew," Luke replied truthfully. "Anyway – which way was it?!"

Leia turned away from him in anger.

"Ooh, I dunno!" she moaned. "We'll never get out of here…"

Then Luke saw her.

Ahsoka, shining blue and smiling at him, holding a finger to her lips. Luke made a questioning face, and Ahsoka pointed down a corridor, and winked, before vanishing.

"I think it's this way," Luke said to Leia, grabbing her hand.

"How do you know?" Leia said, annoyed.

"Call it a hunch," Luke smiled, the very imitation of a certain Jedi Knight.

--

The battle between Sidious and Anakin – Avatars of Dark and Light respectively – was something to behold.

To a normal person, untrained in any way with the Force, it just looked like two men, swinging lightsabres, red and blue fire swinging around and around in arcs powerful enough to cleave through stone, meeting with great clashes of energy. The man with the red blade also had hands that were brimming with energy, and every so often, he unleashed it.

And so the battle went, duck, swing, parry, riposte, swing, parry, thrust, spin, jump...

The man with the red blade kept talking, making comments about Padme and Luke and Leia and Ahsoka, all designed to infuriate the other, who remained steadily emotionless about the whole thing, continuing the system, parry, thrust, spin…

To a normal person, it was extremely impressive, anyway. Most impressive thing possible.

To a Force Trained person, it was more.

The powerful will of Anakin Skywalker, the thing that he used to defeat foes from across the galaxy, the power that had shattered steel, smashed armies…

Was not here.

Anakin Skywalker was instead channelling a different will. That of the Force. Every move, every parry, was not Anakin Skywalker, but instead the Force, flowing through his shell.

Sidious, on the other hand, was letting every single particle of hatred he had, every iota of anger, fury, rage and evil, come into his person, where it was unleashed against Anakin in pure power behind every single strike, every single – everything.

This was the sight that greeted Obi Wan Kenobi, who stood, lightsabre ignited but useless at his side. For what good was a mere weapon at a time like this?

And then, somehow, the end happened.

--

Anakin – the small part of the shell tat answered to that name – realised quite early on that he was doomed.

You can't have a massive fight like this without first accepting that you are going to die. This goes without saying. But Anakin senses his end is near.

In the Force, he searches for the best way to defeat his foe.

He finds it.

It comes when he sees a gantry. It comes when he grabs Sidious' arm and crushes his wrist.

He ignores the lightening, he ignores the absolute agony, oh Force make it stop, please…! and instead he picks Sidious up, and lifts him above his head. Upon his face there is almost a mask, a symbol of the life he knows this man, this murdering maniac, would have had him lead, and he allows it to melt, and it is with pure relief that he throws the Avatar of Darkness.

And in a single moment, he knows that, somehow, it was always meant to be like this.

_The Force is such,_ a familiar voice tells him,_ that every few millennia, an Avatar of Light and an Avatar of Darkness are born, unbalancing the Force. It is such that they must both die, in order to balance the Force again._

_So that's why I was born_? Anakin asks the voice, old Qui Gon. _To die?_

_Had I known, you would never have left Tatooine_, Qui Gon replies._ I am so sorry, Anakin…_

--

And then Anakin opened his eyes to see Obi Wan over him.

"Anakin, no!" he moaned, and Anakin wondered then how bad he must look.

"It's ok," he said to Kenobi. "It's my time. I was meant to die, anyway…" he coughed.

"Anakin, hold on," Obi Wan said, and Anakin thought of Ahsoka.

Oh there she was, standing behind Master Kenobi. And Qui Gon was smiling. And Mace Windu, bowing with respect, a smile upon his face.

"It's too late, Master," he said, looking back at Kenobi. "But, while it lasted, it was good. I'm… glad you're alright."

He smiled, a glowing thing, Anakin Skywalker on high, and then…

He vanished into the Force.

Obi Wan Kenobi stared at the pile of robes in his hand, and for the second time in his life, he cried, truly cried.

"He's gone," he murmured. "I failed. I failed Anakin."

_'No,'_ an all too familiar voice said. Obi Wan whirled, and almost smiled. '_You didn't fail.' _

"Qui Gon!"

Qui Gon Jinn was perched upon a wall, and smiling.

--

Luke and Leia felt their Fathers death in the Force. It felt like a wave without a shore, a powerful echo across time and space.

"Oh," Luke said, tears forming in his eyes.

"Oh no," Leia added, tears flowing down her cheeks.

--

Across the Galaxy, everyone felt it.

A wave, a feeling, a power had passed, and nothing would ever be the same.

The Hero With No Fear was dead.

--


	10. 10

Obi Wan went towards the Padme, heart heavy. Luke and Leia were sitting on the ramp, tears streaming down their faces. In his arms, he carried Anakin's robes, and in responser to their agonised questioning faces, he only nodded.

He went to them, and together, they wept.

--

Across the galaxy, hearts simultaneously lightened and got heavier.

They all knew the darkness was gone. They all knew that the light was as well.

The universe was in balance, once more.

The prophecy had been fulfilled.

--

Luke sat alone in the Jedi Temple, as behind him, per Anakin's will, a party in his honour. All the Jedi were celebrating the life of Anakin Skywalker, the Chosen One.

The Avatar of Light was gone, but his memory shone on.

But that did not alleviate the pain his offspring felt.

Luke looked up at the sky, and dreamed.

'They all have a system of planets,' his father had told him once. 'And I've seen so many of them, but no one can see 'em all.'

"I will," Luke said. "I'll see everything."

_'Good dream, Luke,'_ a voice said from behind him. He turned, to see Ahsoka.

"Hi, Ahsoka," he said, turning back to the stars.

Her ghost sat by him.

'_Well that's enthusiam for you,'_ Ahsoka said, sighing. '_No 'hey, cool, you're dead and talking, that's impressive!', talk?'_

"Hey cool, you're dead and talking, that's impressive," Luke said glumly.

_'Enthusiastic or what?_' Ahsoka said, smiling. '_Look, Luke…'_

"My Dad is dead and he hasn't come back," Luke said. "And even if he did, he's gone really, just a ghost."

Ahsoka sighed.

_'I know, and I'm sorry,'_ she said.

"Why hasn't he come to see us?" Luke asked.

_'He'll come visit soon, I promise,_' Ahsoka told him. '_He's just busy, you know – dying has a_ lot _of paperwork…'_

She smiled, but Luke kept looking up at the sky.

_'He's being congratulated,_' Ahsoka said after a moment. _'He is, after all, a successful Chosen One. He had -'_

"He had a special destiny," Luke cut across her. "And see what it got him."

_'Perhaps you're right,_' a different, older, male voice said. 'But even so, it is better than the destiny he could have had. He fulfilled his destiny.'

Luke turned, and saw Qui Gon Jinn smiling at him.

"What are you so happy about?" he asked, snappishly.

_'Happy only to help_,' Qui Gon replied. '_Because, believe it or not, you too have a special destiny…'_

"Keep it," Luke said. "I don't want to know my future."

Qui Gon gave Ahsoka a quizzical look, but she only smiled, and turned back to Luke.

_'Suit yourself, Luke,'_ she said. '_But take our word for it – it is an_ amazing _life_.'

And then she vanished. Qui Gon, however, remained.

"What?" Luke asked.

"I did something," Qui Gon replied, and suddenly there was a strange hardness to his voice, a realness. "I interfered, something we, the Whills Masters, should not do."

And then, he closed his eyes, and suddenly, he was there.

Solid.

He opened his human eyes, and sighed.

"I have paid the price."

Qui Gon Jinn smiled, and bowed to Luke Skywalker.

"You're alive," Luke said.

"No," Qui Gon said. "I am… a construct. Solid particles made so by the Force."

"How?" Luke asked.

"A Master of the Whills becomes One with the Force," Qui Gon replied. "A Grand Master can use that one-ness to trap a spirit in a construct, an approximation of a body, made of particles altered and joined together."

"And that's what just happened to you?" Luke asked. "So you're…?"

"I am unchanging, a trapped ghost," Qui Gon said, and there was an echo of sadness in his voice. "It is a punishment used only upon those who interfere with existence so much that it is the only route that they can utilise to prevent it. I am forever trapped like this. I will never be one with the Force again."

"Who did it?" Luke asked.

"The elders of the Whills," Qui Gon said sadly. "One of the many rules is that we must not use our insight to alter the destiny of people or events. If we do, this is our punishment."

"Can't you just - I dunno - be killed again?" Luke asked, trying to help the man who was obviously in discomfort.

"No," Qui Gon said. "The construct heals instantly any damage."

"Sounds great to me," Luke murmured, not quite understanding Qui Gon's problem.

"Perhaps, but you are mortal," Qui Gon said. "I was… one with the Force. Everywhere at once. But, in order to make sure your father made the right choice, I… I _interfered_, and sealed my own fate. A choice I made regardless."

"I guess I should thank you," Luke said. "What can I do…?"

Qui Gon smiled.

"They did not take my Force ability," he said, smiling. "I am still a Jedi Knight, able to help in a small way."

"And?" Luke said.

"I know you are without a teacher," Qui Gon said. "You have yet to be chosen as a Padawan."

"Yes," Luke said. "Ahsoka… Master Tano was going to take me, but she…"

"Then, Luke," Qui Gon said, kneeling before him, "let me take you as my Padawan learner. Let me do, for you, what I could not for your father."

Luke looked at the resurrected Jedi before him, and smiled.

"I'm up for it," he said.

Qui Gon smiled too.

Somehow, he ruminated, this wasn't going to be so bad after all.

**--**

**To Be Continued in Star Wars: Rise Of Kun.**

**Coming soon.**

**Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed that, because I certainly enjoyed writing it.**


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